2009 Collage Calendar Giveaway!

Happy October 1st Everyone!
Great to be back after my mini blog break! Hope you all have been well, and your money is tucked safe and sound under your mattresses! But we won't get into politics right now, as I would much rather focus on happier things, such as sharing with you the new 2009 Collage calendar from Amber Lotus Publishing, which I am thrilled to be a part of, and to offer one lucky winner a free copy in my GIVEAWAY! Yay!


Above is the cover for COLLAGE: Artplay for your Creative Spirit. The cover artwork was done by Karyn Gartel, and the inside is graced by an amazing line up of artistic talent! I am so tickled and honored to be included, as I greatly admire all of the artists in this calendar!

So how did I happen to wind up here? Well, last year I was contacted by Lunaea Weatherstone who was the force behind gathering all of the artists for this project and who also wrote words of inspiration to go along with each months artwork, helping to inspire and spark the viewers own creativity. She asked me if I would be interested in being one of the collage artists featured in this 2009 calendar, (um....YES!) My job in this was made easy as pumpkin pie, as Lunaea already knew what piece of mine she would like to use, having seen it earlier in Somerset Studio. So off my piece flew for the second time to California, for another photo shoot. (I think I have said this before, but I will say it again, my artwork leads a much more exciting life then I do!)


This is my piece above, (I am the month of March, which is great since that's my birth month!) It's titled "Best Wishes for Planet Earth". I made it the day after I watched Al Gore's "An Inconvient Truth", (which I hope you all have seen!) I needed a place to channel some of my emotions, and this was the result.


I made the frame from foam core, tissue paper, and paint. Vintage ephemera, lace, buttons, plus seed pods and sticks collected from my garden were used to compose the piece, and communicate my feelings of fear, and love and hope for our dear and fragile earth.

Below are little snippets taken from each of the 12 art pieces featured in the calender, beginning with January's. The artists, (and links to them) are credited below each piece:


DJ Pettitt


Sarah Fishburn


Victoria Gertenbach, (Yours truly!)


Teesha Moore


Jenny Doh


Beth Moran


Karyn Gartel


Paula Dion


Angela Cartwright


Tiffini Elektra X


Christi Hydeck


Elise Peeples

I am delighted that this is an Amber Lotus publication. Amber Lotus is a very environmentally conscious company. They are a member of the Green Press Initiative, and in addition to printing calendars on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink, they also were responsible for having 33,000 trees planted in 2007!

If you would like a chance to win a brand new copy of this beautiful calendar, just leave a comment below and just for fun tell me what your favorite year(s) have been... I liked 1967 because I was 4 years old, and 4 is a pretty fun age in my opinion. I also liked 1986, as I graduated from art school and got married that year. 1989, and 1994 because that is when my daughters were born, and 2005, (October 1st to be exact) because that is when I FINALLY got to see my beloved Rolling Stones in concert, something I had been trying to do since the age of 12!

By the way, only one comment per person please, and make sure that I have a way to contact you should you win! Should you not be the winner, but know a good thing when you see it, and simply must have a copy, fear not for I am currently also offering a few copies of the calendar for sale in both my BooDilly's shop and in my Silly BooDilly shop. I only have a few, so if you are interested grab one now! (Of course you can also order one here from Amber Lotus!)

I will be randomly picking a winner next Tuesday evening and posting the winner on Wednesday October 8th. Good luck everyone!

New squares!

I got some new squares over the past few months. Here is a belated update:

Maude Forbid screen printed a Boston B Party shirt to represent our B Team:

EZ Bake Shovin' retired this year, but she donated a square because she's just that fabulous:

This is a square-in-progress made up entirely of used track tape from one of our summer bouts:

Death by Roxy sent this from Vermont. It's made up entirely of used skate laces. Brilliant idea:

This is a uniform piece by the lovely ladies of NHRD:

And finally, a shot of the quilt as it is right now in its safety-pinned-together state:

Utah Quilt Guild

My friend Niquie and I had the opportunity to take a class from Karen K. Stone at the Utah Guild's Annual Quilt Fest! We only had time in our schedules for one class and I'm so glad we ended up in the Happy Ric Rac Class with Karen. She is so talented and what amazing quilts and ideas. She was very generous and shared so much about her inspiration and how she accomplished her creativity on her quilts. Here are a few pictures. Remember that these are for my personal enjoyment and be respectful and don't "steal" them.

Me, Karen, and Niquie. Kind of blurry, but that could be a good thing! LOL

Student blocks

A few of Karen's quilts

Thanks!

Greetings From Taliesin

Twenty Eight years ago my mother took my sister and I to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's studio in Spring Green Wisconsin. This is when I fell in love with the area that I now call home. At the time of our visit the 37,000 sf (yes 37,000 sf) home was not open to the public. Last Sunday we finally had an opportunity to tour his home together.
Taliesin was built on the sight of Wright's grandparents family farm along the Wisconsin River. He spent many summers working on the farm in his youth. In the early part of the 20th century two of Wright's Aunts ran a boarding school on the property which supported progressive teaching methods designed to enable the creative mind. The first buildings that Frank Lloyd Wright built on the property were classrooms and dormitories for this school. They were later used by the "fellowship", Wright's students in his school of architecture.

Taliesin was Wright's testing ground for many of his innovative ideas. Much of the building done in the wing pictured above was done quickly by his students. The right hand side of the building was constructed over the ashes of a fire that burned at the site. Important clients we due to arrive and Wright wanted an impressive structure ready to house his guests. Because this wing was not built on a proper foundation it has been sinking over the years. Wright's theory was he could always rebuild at a later time. This part of the building was only expected to be temporary. The shot above is of the dormitory which surrounds the architecture studio. You can see the windows of the studio in the center of the roof.

The views from the home are awesome! Wright's respect for nature, learned at an early age, extends throughout the property. Many of the trees on this property are massive. Oaks, maples and pines are 100-200 years old. This trip was well worth the wait!

Quilting at Midnight

Rule # 25 - Quilting at Midnight - NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Company is coming tomorrow and I had 2 projects to finish before I packed up my sewing machine for the weekend. Here is the "Pear" quilt finished and ready to go the the quilt show. I was too tired to notice I was backing myself into a corner and too tired to care. I finished the quilting with one mistake. I decided to leave it in to remind me to always have a clear head when I start a project no matter how great or small. I have to admit this is not like me. I usually rip out mistakes and fix them, but this quilt was a practice piece. It was an exercise to learn how to create light and shadow while reproducing a photograph. On the brighter side, I love my new King Tut thread. It quilted like a dream and looks beautiful on this piece.

Rule #26 - "If you have to rip out a seam more than 2 times the seam is perfect the way it is." I use this rule often so I don't get too obsessed with perfection.

NE Quilt Show!

I do have some quilts that I've accomplished since last posting, but I'll have to post them later. I went to the Boston Area with DH who went on business, and YES I had to look up anything quilty in the area. I found a Quilt Museum in Lowell, Mass and while on their website I noticed that they weren't having a regular class session because of a Quilt Show. So I looked it up and the Mancuso organization was doing a show in Manchester, NH. Only an hour away!! So we had to go! Poor Hubby got drug to 2 quilting things in one week! He was a good sport and I love him for it. Here's a few pics. Please be respectfully and realize that these were taken for my own enjoyment and should not be used for commercial or other unlawful enterprises!

Thanks!!

What the Dog Saw

The Queen Anne's Lace has been replaced by Golden Rod
Grasses are turning from green to gray. The indentation in the grass was left by a deer after a nights sleep. You can see these all over the farm and the deer paths that meander into the woods.
There is a small amount of color in the woods, soon to be brilliant with yellows, browns and oranges
A shot of my favorite tree before it loses it's leaves for the season.
Jack finds a cool resting spot at the end of our walk.

I learned a lot combining the capabilities of Statler's Creative Studio with freehand techniques with this quilt of Linda Wrench's which was displayed at the Toowoomba Quilter's annual exhibition this month.

My quilting club, Toowoomba Quilters, has an annual exhibition during the Carnival of Flowers in September. We also support local charities though an annual raffle quilt. This year it was the turn of the Toowoomba Older Men's Network (TOMNet). The article below was published in a supplement in our local newspaper, The Chronicle.

I may have created a monster.

How have things been going in quilt-land, you ask? Since my decision to base my MSAE thesis project on roller derby has been approved, it's been going almost freakishly well. The panel that reviewed my benchmark presentation was pretty gung-ho about the quilt, and I've been given the go-ahead to go bat-shit crazy with this until my thesis show next year. Ever since last week it's been a quilt-o-rama at the Dread household, and then I got the crazy idea to email everyone I could possibly think of who's life has been touched by roller derby.

I spent the better part of three hours on Monday emailing every single league on the western half of the US in the hopes of getting a few more squares for the quilt. Over the past three days I have received over a hundred responses. Many are "I'll post this to my league and hopefully someone will contact you", which is simply fabulous. However, quite a few have been significantly more awesome. Thanks to everyone who has responded, but special thanks go to these three anonymous leagues:

"... can I have your mailing address and I'll send it out this week!!!"

"Oh, you're so lucky the crafter on our league also maintains the MySpace!"

"I can easilly put together a few squares to send off for you to add, but what I would really like to do is contribute a whole panel..."

I've simply taken to squealing every time I hear the little "ping" of my inbox getting another email. Tonight I'll hit the eastern half of the country, and I'll use this weekend to work on contacting international leagues. In my fantasy world, every state and every country will be represented on the quilt. That might be too much to ask, but a girl can dream...

Walking in Nature

Sometimes living in the peaceful countryside can be deafening. There are some many different layers of sound to be heard. My hydrangea bush is covered with honey bees and there wings beat with industrious buzzing. I can hear a cicada infrequently over the singing of the tree frogs and crickets. Jack and I go for a walk and he sends all the grasshoppers and cricket running for cover in the tall grasses. Sometimes we are invaders, other times we are accepted as part of the natural flow. Today while out walking I spied a doe sleeping down in the woods along the creek bed. I sent her silent thoughts of admiration as we passed by and she watched me pass without alarm. I can smell a fox or a skunk somewhere nearby. I hope to see a fox and wish that Jack does not find out it is a skunk.